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All  flitK: 


INGERSOLL,  ROBE 
GREEN 


TITLE: 


LETTER  FROM 
ROBERTO.  ... 

PLACE: 

NEW  YORK 

DA  TE: 

1890 


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COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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Ingersoll,  Robert  Greon,  1833-1899. 

Letter  from  Col*  Robert  G.   Ingersoll  to  Philip 
G*  Poabody.  .  ilow  York,  llay  27,  1890. 

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Letter  from 


Col.  ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL 


TO 


PHILIP  G.  PEABODY,  Esq. 


Law  Office, 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  45  Wall  Street, 
New  York,  May  27,  1890. 


Philip  G.  Peabody,  Esq., 

Boston,  Mass. 


Y  Dear  Friend: 


\ 


\ 


Vivisection  is  the  Inquisition — the  Hell — 
of  Science.  All  the  cruelty  which  the  human — 
or  rather  the  inhuman — heart  is  capable  of  inflicting, 
is  in  this  one  word.  Below  this  there  is  no  depth. 
This  word  lies  like  a  coiled  serpent  at  the  bottom  of 
the  abyss. 


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l,i^*Ai:i  J^j.      .i^,  JS\ 


We  can  excuse,  in  part,  the  crimes  of  passion. 
We  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  man  is 
liable  to  be  caught  by  the  whirlwind,  and  that  from  a 
brain  on  fire  the  soul  rushes  to  a  crime.  But  what 
excuse  can  ingenuity  form  for  a  man  who  delib- 
erately—  with  an  unaccelerated  pulse  —  with  the 
calmness  of  John  Calvin  at  the  murder  of  Servetus — 
seeks,  with  curious  and  cunning  knives,  in  the  living, 
quivering  flesh  of  a  dog,  for  all  the  throbbing  nerves 
of  pain?  The  wretches  who  commit  these  infamous 
crimes  pretend  that  they  are  working  for  the  good  of 
man;  that  they  are  actuated  by  philanthropy;  and 
that  their  pity  for  the  suff'erings  of  the  human  race 
drives  out  all  pity  for  the  animals  they  slowly  torture 
to  death.  But  those  who  are  incapable  of  pitying 
animals  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  incapable  of  pitying 
men.  A  physician  who  would  cut  a  living  rabbit  in 
f  .eces  —  laying  bare  the  nerves,  denuding  them  with 
knives,  pulling  them  out  with  forceps  —  would  not 
hesitate  to  try  experiments  with  men  and  women  for 
the  gratification  of  his  curiosity. 

To  settle  some  theory,  he  would  trifle  with  the 
life  of  any  patient  in  his  power.  By  the  same 
reasoning  he  will  justify  the  vivisection  of  animals 


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and  patients.  He  will  say  that  it  is  better  that  a  few 
animals  should  suffer  than  that  one  human  being 
should  die ;  and  that  it  is  far  better  that  one  patient 
should  die,  if,  through  the  sacrifice  of  that  one, 
several  may  be  saved. 

Brain  without  heart  is  far  more  dangerous  than 
heart  without  brain. 

Have  these  scientific  assassins  discovered  any- 
thing of  value?  They  may  have  settled  some  dis- 
putes as  to  the  action  of  some  organ,  but  have  they 
added  to  the  useful  knowledge  of  the  race? 

It  is  not  necessary  for  a  man  to  be  a  specialist  in 
order  to  have  and  express  his  opinion  as  to  the  right 
or  wrong  of  vivisection.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a 
scientist  or  a  naturalist  to  detest  cruelty  and  to  love 
mercy.  Above  all  the  discoveries  of  the  thinkers, 
above  all  the  inventions  of  the  ingenious,  above  all 
the  victories  won  on  fields  of  intellectual  conflict, 
rise  human  sympathy  and  a  sense  of  justice. 

I  know  that  good  for  the  human  race  can  never 
be  accomplished  by  torture.  I  also  know  that  all 
that  has  been  ascertained  by  vivisection  could  have 
been  done  by  the  dissection  of  the  dead.  I  know 
that  all  the  torture  has  been  useless.     All  the  agony 


I: 


/ 


'*£k^s 


,  \->,-..^ 


*.«s|5^'. 


•"jf*?^/ 


inflicted  has  simply  hardened  the  hearts  of  the  crim- 
inals, without  enlightening  their  minds. 

It  may  be  that  the  human  race  might  be  physically 
improved  if  all  the  sickly  and  deformed  babes  were 
killed,  and  if  all  the  paupers,  liars,  drunkards,  thieves, 
villains  and  vivisectionists  were  murdered.  All  this 
might,  in  a  few  ages,  result  in  the  production  of  a 
generation  of  physically  perfect  men  and  women ;  but 
what  would  such  beings  be  worth, —  men  and  women 
healthy  and  heartless,  muscular  and  cruel — that  is  to 
say,  intelligent  wild  beasts  ? 

Never  can  I  be  the  friend  of  one  who  vivisects 
his  fellow-creatures.     I  do  not  wish  to  touch  his  hand. 

When  the  angel  of  pity  is  driven  from  the  heart; 
when  the  fountain  of  tears  is  dry, — the  soul  becomes 
a  serpent  crawling  in  the  dust  of  a  desert. 

Thanking  you  for  the  good  you  are  doing,  and 
wishing  you  the  greatest  success,  I  remain, 

Yours  always, 

R.  G.  Ingersoll. 


\ 


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